Friday, October 25, 2013 Print Edition

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Friday, October 25, 2013

The Collegiate Times’ comprehensive guide to Virginia Tech Football

www.collegiatetimes.com

THE LONG WAY

BACK BY ALEX KOMA | sports editor

Linebacker Tariq Edwards has had to recover from a variety of injuries.

T

ariq Edwards has enough metal in his body to set off alarm bells at any major airport, but you’d never know it. The redshirt senior linebacker has had to endure myriad surgeries thanks to some brutal injuries over the last two years, yet Edwards has played like a star on defense in 2013. Cornerback Antone Exum might get all the attention for his rehabilitation from a torn ACL, but Edwards endured an equally grueling recovery over the course of the last year. “It was a long road, a long and hard one,” Edwards said. The linebacker had a breakout season in 2011, but over the course of the year, a stress fracture developed in his shin. That means that a small crack gradually appeared in one of Edwards’ critical load-bearing bones. Doctors had to insert a metal rod into his leg to stabilize the fracture, an invasive procedure that set

Edwards back for the entire 2012 offseason. He returned to the practice field last August, but injury trouble found him once more. This time, it was his knee that betrayed him, and he needed another surgery. Edwards ultimately returned for last year’s game against Bowling Green, but he played sparingly all year long. He ultimately started in the Russell Athletic Bowl against Rutgers, when he finally began to feel comfortable once more. “Honestly, I didn’t feel 100 percent up until the bowl game,” Edwards said. “I was just feeling a lot of nagging pain within my leg. Just certain moves, it wasn’t as flexible.” The senior started to prepare for 2013 in earnest over the course of spring practice. Despite having a few months off, Edwards was still apprehensive out on the field. “I felt like 100 percent during the spring, but I still felt an unease being out there with people that might aim for your leg unconsciously,” Edwards said. “I just felt like I had to get back to a certain level that I felt com-

see EDWARDS / page 4

DEFENDING DUKE:

TECH SCHEMES FOR CUTCLIFFE’S OFFENSE

HOKIES LEAN ON THOMAS TO POWER OFFENSIVE ATTACK JAMES O’HARA contributing sports reporter

BROOKS AKER sports reporter

When Peyton Manning endorses an offensive coach, it carries significant weight. Manning frequently turns to Duke head coach David Cutcliffe, which shows that if there is one certainty about Duke football, it’s that Cutcliffe is a brilliant offensive mind. Though Cutcliffe doesn’t have a prototypical pocket passer like Manning in his arsenal at Duke, he has two talented redshirt junior quarterbacks playing well this season. Brandon Connette and Anthony Boone have both been efficient and effective in the backfield this season, and their success has helped the Blue Devils to a strong 5-2 start. With a combination of Boone and Connette at quarterback, the Blue Devils are currently scoring 35.7 points per game. The offense garnered special praise from Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer. “I think (they’re) the most efficient offense (we’ve seen) since Alabama,” Beamer said. “They’ve got talent and they’re well coached.” Brandon Connette has been the steady force all season for Duke, having played in all seven games and accumulating a pass

FILE 2012 / SPPS

The Hokies’ defense is looking to avoid allowing Duke to jump out to a big lead, like they did in 2012.

efficiency rating of 163.9, good for ninth in the country and one spot behind Alabama’s A.J. McCarron. Connette’s ability to make the big throw but also keep the ball as a runner makes him tough to defend. But last season against the Hokies, Connette left the game after just his second carry due to an injury and did not return. Th is will be the first time that the Hokies’ defense faces

Connette for significant game time. This season it was Boone who suffered an injury that cost him playing time. After breaking his collarbone in Duke’s second game of the season at Memphis, Boone missed four games while Connette was the sole quarterback. The Devils posted a 2-2 record during that stretch, but the offense clicked well when Boone returned

against Navy. Boone isn’t quite the same runner as Connette, but he will keep the ball often enough to make a defense honor a play fake. His ability as a passer changes how Duke attacks the defense. Boone went 31-for-38 in a marvelous return from injury, leading Duke to the 35-7 win. After another win,

see DEFENSE / page 4

After the Virginia Tech Hokies’ season opener against the Alabama Crimson Tide, in which running back Trey Edmunds ran for 132 yards while quarterback Logan Thomas completed just 19 percent of his passes, the common sentiment was that the Hokies would need to rely on their running game this season. As the season has worn on, however, the veracity of that statement has diminished. Since the Hokies began ACC play, Thomas has been the offense. The Hokies have utilized a quicker passing game, focused on shorter routes that lead to high percentage throws, to take pressure off of Thomas while simultaneously putting more of the offensive burden on the senior. And the strategy has worked. In the Hokies’ last three games, Thomas has either passed or carried the ball on 69 percent of plays, while playing his best games of the season. Thomas was the leading rusher in two of the Hokies’ last three games, while also throwing for three of his four highest completion percentages on the season. Thomas has also not thrown an interception over the same stretch, while accounting for six touchdowns. With injuries on the offensive line affecting their ability, especially in the interior, to fire off the line quickly and get under the pads of the defense,

the traditional running game has struggled. “It looked like we’d been in war or the battlefield out there in practice with some of our guys,” said running backs coach Shane Beamer. With the new emphasis on running Thomas on the inverted veer and quicker developing plays in the passing game, the amount of work required of the offensive line has been reduced, allowing the Hokies to get the same, or better, production. “We got to do what (we’ve) got to do to win games,” said Beamer. The new play calling isn’t better for everyone though. Edmunds has seen his role gradually decrease; he has had less than ten carries in two of the last three games. Even when he has gotten the ball, Edmunds has averaged just 1.41 yards per carry. Edmunds isn’t letting that discourage him, though. “Football isn’t all positive,” Edmunds said. “You have to take the negatives with the positives. So I mean you have to just stay in there and stick with it and keep working and hopefully it will come around again.” The coaching staff isn’t worried about Edmunds either. “Surely, Trey would have liked to put together more games, more successful games, since that Alabama game. But I’m not worried about him,” Beamer said.

see OFFENSE / page 4


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